Desiderius Erasmus helped popularize the phrase “Pandora’s box” through his Latin adaptation of the myth. In Adagia, his influential collection of proverbs, Erasmus used pyxis, the Latin word for box, in place of the large jar described by Hesiod.
This translation choice helped establish the image that later became standard in European languages. The ancient Greek term was pithos, a substantial storage jar. The modern expression therefore reflects a Renaissance transmission history as much as the original myth.
Erasmus was a Dutch Renaissance humanist whose writings circulated widely among educated European readers. Adagia gathered classical sayings and supplied commentary, making ancient stories available in forms that could be quoted and reused.
The phrase now means an action that releases many unforeseen troubles. Its meaning is related to, but not identical with, the details of Hesiod’s story. In particular, the familiar box is a later linguistic development, while the jar belongs to the earliest surviving narrative.